CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Since the arrival of English language on the Nigerian soil about one and a half centuries ago, attempts have been made at various times to describe the variety of English spoken and written by Nigerians. The assumptions range from Standard British English (SBE), to Educated West African English (EWE), to Standard American English (SAE), and then, to Standard Nigerian English (SNE) (Babatunde, 2012). Of all these varieties, the candidate that appears to have gained prominence in the Nigerian sociolinguistic terrain, particularly, from the time the Nigeria gained independence as a nation from its former colonial masters, is the Standard British English (SBE) variety. The reason is obvious: Nigeria was an offshoot of British colonial and missionary occupation, and so, the basic language of communication used in governance, trade, education and other purposes was mainly English. This explains why testing and evaluation of academic performance in Nigerian institutions of learning have been modelled after Standard British English, the received pronunciation (RP).
Awonusi (2017) and Josiah (2019), among numerous others, have adequately proved that using RP as a spoken model for Nigerians is merely an exercise that lacks basic justification since the variety of English spoken in Nigeria (just as in any other L2 environment) cannot be said to be truly British. In fact, judging from available documentary evidences so far, most Nigerians do not speak British English. As an extension to this primer observation, there are several unique features that distinguish the spoken variety of English in Nigeria from RP. This agrees with Jowitts (2018) observation that the English language (particularly in an L2 environment like Nigeria) has defied nature by undergoing gynaechological re-processing.
This is why it is necessary to undertake a study of this nature to further investigate into the pattern of an acculturated or a hybridized version of the English language spoken by Nigerians and then propose what language Lecturers and examination bodies should attempt to do to improve learners‟ performance in classroom situation.
In a nutshell, this study re-examines the patterns of educated spoken English in Nigeria using the final-year university students in the country as exponents. It examines the spoken speeches of the respondents used for the study and isolates specific “Nigerianness” in those utterances in an attempt to provide some teaching models for applied linguists to work with in an ESL classroom.
It is observed that the patterns of spoken English existing among the respondents used reflects the concept proposed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in what is usually referred to as “linguistic determinism and cultural relativity”: that the cultural milieu of a linguistic environment influences, and thereby determines to a large extent, the type of language that would exist.
The study analyzes the data collected from 65 respondents and concludes that most Nigerians do not speak any variety similar to RP, even among the educated class, but a model that could be described as Educated Nigerian Spoken English (ENSE). One sociolinguistic implication of the diffusion of English language - an amalgam of the three paltry languages of the Jutes, Angles and the Saxon, unknown in the 6thCentury AD - in the global scene is the emergence of World Englishes (WE) (Adegbija,2018). English is now spoken all over the world among various categories of speakers.
The Kachruan ‘three concentric circles’ of English users are the Inner Circle, the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle, Kachru, (2005).These are normatively characterized as Norm-producing, Norm-developing and Norm-dependent users. This sociolinguistic scenario is also aptly captured by Quirk (2005) as English as a Native language(ENL) countries (Great Britain, United States, Canada, Australia, South-Africa), English as a Second Language countries (e.g. Nigeria, India, Singapore, Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, etc.) and English as a Foreign Language countries (e.g. Germany, Russia, China, France, Belgium, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Greece, etc.) (Adedimeji, 2006).
The international explosion of English has made it cease to be an exclusive preserve of the English people (Adegbija, 2004).As there are more speakers of English in the outer and expanding circles than the norm-producing inner circle, English is now seen as a global language, susceptible to the subtleties and idiosyncrasies of regional and cultural linguistic behaviours. Indeed, Bailey and Gorlach (2012) provide a panoramic overview of world varieties of English as clothed by their various distinctive peculiarities and identifiable local flavour. Some of the issues that have arisen from this phenomenon as rightly identified by Adegbija (2014) are: (a) the growth and development of indigenized, nativized indiosyncratic varieties, (b) the issue of intelligibility or otherwise of the emerging varieties and the implications of this for an international or global variety, (c) the acceptability of the different varieties and (d) the determination of which variety should be the ideal norm to use as a model, especially in education. As “sociolinguistics tries to cope with the messiness of language as a social phenomenon” (Coulmas, 2013), such messiness may be said to abound in the sociogeographical spread of English across the world.
Some world varieties of English, aspects of Nigerian English inclusive, would still need to be interpreted to other speakers of English before they are intelligible. This is a result of the overbearing local idioms and linguistic patterns that characterize such varieties or uses.
The present exercise is relevant because most previous attempts at addressing features of the Nigerian English have been particularistic and unidirectional, focusing on individual or two levels of linguistic description. Hence, this study intends to examine the linguistic features of Nigerian English and their implications for 21st century English pedagogy.
Statement of the Problem
Many Nigerian students are evaluated in institutions of learning based on Standard British English (SBE). Relatively, much of their pronunciations of English words are also expected to be RP-based. It cannot be denied that interference from the native language does exist. The phonology of Nigeria-influenced English Language will be strongly influenced by native’s language which is usually used in the home environment by Nigerians (Phoon, 2010). Students from Nigeria background tend to have difficulties with English sounds because they are deeply influenced by similar Nigerian sounds.
The production of a particular English sound which does not exist in Nigeria can pose a difficulty for the Nigerian students. Thus, the study focuses on the common characteristics of pronunciation errors resulting from native language.
To what extent this expectation is realistic is what this research sets out to investigate. The work primarily attempts to find out if it is justifiable to use an exoglossic standard to evaluate a largely endoglossic learners of English.
It also attempts to verify and discover if what has been tagged Standard Nigerian English (Banjo, 2012) is adequate for the teaching of the English language in Nigeria; and to justify whether such an English variety passes model criteria for standardization: social acceptability and international intelligibility.
Purpose of the Study
The general objective of this study is to investigate the linguistic features of Nigerian English and their implications for 21st century English pedagogy. It is the intention of this study to:
(i) Identify the specific features that characterize the pronunciation of English words and expressions by Nigerian students in University of Nigeria Nsukka,.
(ii) assess the English pronunciations observed among Nigerian students that are approximate to those of Standard British English (SBE).
(iii) Ascertain the standard model of English pronunciation Nigerian students need for pedagogical purposes in an ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom.
Significance of the Study
It is hoped that the findings of this study would offer English Lecturers and students better insights on effective teaching strategies in helping their students to master English pronunciation. The Error Analysis (EA) focuses on the errors that students make. This can provide a significant understanding into how a language is actually learned by the students. Lecturers and lecturers should be well aware of the fact that the majority of their students have difficulties realising certain English sounds.
The possible solutions in preventing students from making errors repeatedly should be considered. It is also hoped that the findings of the study will help the students to understand the phonological differences between their native language and target languages. Students should not completely rely on their Lecturers to recognise the errors for them. It is essential to make the students consciously compare the two languages by themselves and understand the rules of the new language during the learning process
Scope of the Study
This study is delimited to selected students in University of Nigeria Nsukka,. It focuses on the linguistic features of Nigerian English and their implications for 21st century English pedagogy. The independent variable is linguistic features while the dependent variable is English pedagogy.
Research Questions
The following research questions are raised to guide the study;
i. Are there specific features that characterize the pronunciation of English words and expressions by Nigerian students in University of Nigeria Nsukka, Ikere Campus.?
ii. Do the English pronunciations observed among Nigerian students approximate to those of Standard British English (SBE)?
iii. What standard model of English pronunciation do Nigerian students need for pedagogical purposes in an ESL classroom?
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